NEW DELHI: Delhi Police investigators have arrested a Srinagar resident they believe was a key member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror cell that carried out the October 29 serial bombing of New Delhi.

Tariq Ahmad Dar, a resident of Solina in Srinagar, was apprehended by Delhi Police personnel on Friday morning.

He was brought to New Delhi from Srinagar on Friday night, and is being questioned by the city police's Special Cell.

Dar was arrested from Pulwama in southern Kashmir after a four-day secret hunt led by personnel from the Intelligence Bureau who had succeeded in intercepting cellphone conversations between the alleged terrorist and his associates. His arrest was executed amidst great secrecy by a crack plainclothes police team.

Clueless local authorities in Pulwama reported this morning on the basis of eyewitness accounts that Dar had been "kidnapped by terrorists."

Sources told The Hindu that Dar had been identified as a suspect after painstaking scrutiny of records of telephone calls made from Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir in the days before and after the bombings.

Home Minister briefed

Home Minister Shivraj Patil was briefed on Friday evening on what officials claim is a potentially crucial breakthrough in establishing which terrorist group was responsible for the serial bombings.

Conscious of the potential for embarrassment, however, officials in New Delhi have maintained a studied silence on the development. Dar's arrest came just hours after Delhi Police authorities released Ghulam Mohiuddin Lone, another Jammu and Kashmir resident who was held on suspicion of having played a role in the bombing. Arrested by Military Intelligence authorities on September 5, Lone's subsequent interrogation proved he was just a small-time thief.

Past Lashkar links

According to highly-placed sources, Dar had been suspected of having Lashkar links since April this year. Four months ago, an Intelligence Bureau-led operation led to Dar's arrest, after he was discovered in possession in large amounts of Saudi currency. Jammu and Kashmir Police officials subsequently charged Dar with being a courier for Lashkar funds, saying he had used the Haj pilgrimage as a cover to meet top terrorist leaders. However, Dar succeeded in obtaining bail and dropped off the police's radar.

Interestingly, Dar's lifestyle seems to have been in stark contrast to his apparent sources of income.

A high-school graduate whose father is mason, Dar worked as a salesman and representative for a pharmaceutical firm. Yet, he managed to purchase a home and a Maruti 800 car, which he was driving at the time of his arrest.

A senior police official told The Hindu that Dar's jobs were a cover for his real work as a Lashkar operative, affording him a legitimate reason to travel widely.

Jammu and Kashmir Police officials, last year, shut down a Srinagar-based Lashkar cell that was planning the bombing of the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Twenty-three alleged Lashkar cadre were arrested, while Shahid Ahmad, the Pakistani national who led the team, was killed in a shoot-out.

Manzoor Ahmad Chilloo, a member of Shahid Ahmad's cell, is currently recovering from bullet injuries at a hospital in Srinagar.

It is still unclear if Dar was linked to this Lashkar cell or was part of a separate group.

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